


Respite

by spacebubble



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Bickering, Coda, Episode: s05e06 Trials and Tribble-ations, Ficlet, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Napping, Solid!Odo, Tribbles (Star Trek), and Quark's apprehension re the tribble menace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 08:22:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11893791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacebubble/pseuds/spacebubble
Summary: Odo falls asleep amongst a pile of tribbles, and so does Quark.Sometimes things are exactly what they appear to be.





	Respite

**Author's Note:**

> literal fluff. sometimes you get stuck with a mental image and writing is the only way to deal with it. ^_^;;

Quark doesn’t even bother sighing.

His bar’s never been so full, but he’s not happy.

The entire Promenade’s infested with tribbles. They’re multiplying faster than anything and he’s stopped trying to imagine ways to profit off the cursed animals.

Grilka was right about them.

It’s horrific, really.

Even more horrific: Odo apparently sees no problem with any of it.

Instead of discussing possible tribble removal solutions with Sisko and the others, Odo’s chosen to sit and watch the furry pests like they’re something worth observing.

“I can’t believe you’re _smiling,_ ” Quark tells the Changeling sitting across the counter. “How can you smile at a time like this?”

Odo shrugs. He gazes around the bar, surveying the flood of tribbles covering the premises.

He looks happy.

Quark’s never seen him so happy.

Something’s very wrong.

“Hey,” Quark says. “Odo.”

“Mm?”

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Never better, Quark.” The Changeling’s positively beaming as he glances back. “Why?”

“I think the tribbles infected you. With some tribble disease.”

At that, Odo scoffs. “Nonsense.”

“I’m serious!” Quark brushes some tribbles aside to lean on the counter. “Maybe they’ve sedated you, made you breathe in some mind-controlling dander to make you all docile and complacent, so they can destroy the station undisturbed.”

Odo makes a point of rolling his eyes. “ _How_ could the tribbles possibly destroy the station, Quark? They don’t even have limbs.”

“You don’t need limbs to wreak havoc.”

“And what kind of _havoc_ might that be?”

“General havoc!” Quark glares at the ceaseless mass of fluffy animals spilling out the doors. “They’re already a safety hazard. What if there’s an emergency? How can anyone leave the bar quickly?”

“Don’t be absurd, Quark. You can simply walk through them.”

And Odo gets out of the barstool with a theatrically elaborate departure.

“I’ll prove it to you,” the Changeling says.

“Fine,” Quark replies, folding his arms. “Go right ahead.”

He watches Odo walk at a normal brisk pace to the middle of the bar.

The Changeling spreads his arms wide as he turns to look back at Quark.

“See, Quark? That wasn’t difficult at all.”

“Says you,” Quark calls out. “Maybe that’s part of their plan.”

Odo drops his arms to his sides with an annoyed grunt. “And how, exactly, could permitting me to walk through them be part of any plan?”

“So you don’t suspect them,” Quark explains, because it’s one thing to engage in subterfuge himself, but it’s a completely different thing for anyone else - or anything else - to do so. “Something more nefarious could be at work, Odo. First, they lower your defenses. Then, when you least expect it, they’ll spring up and band together and -"

Odo sighs. “Quark, get over here.”

“Why?”

“So you can see for yourself how easy it is.”

All around him, the tribble-covered floor seems to rise in fluffy masses of cream, beige, and tan.

Quark pinches the bridge of his nose for a bit, then begins going around the bar counter.

Sisko and the others are still discussing removal suggestions at one of the corner tables. No one seems to have come up with a solution yet.

He supposes there’s nothing else he can do.

Odo smiles at him as he approaches, but the Changeling’s expression isn’t nearly as smug as Quark expects it to be.

“What?” Quark asks, as he wades easily through the sea of tribbles rising around them.

Odo tilts his head. “What do you mean, ‘what?’”

“You’re smiling at me.”

“Am I smiling?”

“Of course you are. You haven’t stopped smiling since you came back from that trip to the Federation past.”

“Huh.” Odo glances down at the tribbles surrounding them. “Guess I have a lot to smile about. I do enjoy their company.”

“Don’t get used to it,” Quark informs him. “They can’t stay here forever, Odo.”

“I know.” Odo begins sitting down.

Quark stops, confused. “What are you doing?”

“Just thought I’d sit amongst them for a moment.” Odo sits cross-legged on the floor and leans back on his hands. “It’s quite pleasant.”

“Uh-huh,” Quark says. “I’m sure it is.”

Odo eyes him for a moment, then shrugs again. “Suit yourself, Quark. Although I will say, I’m surprised you’d pass up such a rare opportunity.”

Quark frowns. “What rare opportunity?”

“It’s not likely you’ll ever be amongst this many tribbles in the station, or this part of the quadrant, ever again.”

“Yeah? So?”

“So,” Odo says, “this might be the only chance you have to enjoy this experience. A once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Quark sighs, thinking of all the business he's lost to the tribbles thus far. “Not everything’s an opportunity, Odo.”

The Changeling grins. “Only if you don’t have the instinct for assessing it properly.”

“Oh, now you’re trying to quote the Rules back at me?”

“Who said anything about quoting? Especially to someone who’s not applying them very well,” Odo teases.

There’s something different about Odo’s tone.

It takes a moment for Quark to place it, then he realizes: the Changeling almost sounded affectionate.

Quark deepens his frown.

“You’re loitering in the middle of my establishment,” he tells Odo.

Much to his annoyance, Odo simply laughs and lies back amongst the pile of tribbles on the floor.

A faint chorus of coos starts filling Quark’s ears.

“Now you’re _really_ loitering,” Quark gripes. “And riling up the animals, by the way.”

“They’re cooing,” Odo replies from the floor, eyes half-lidded with drowsiness, and Quark’s distracted by the sight. “They like my presence.”

“They’re dumb, Odo. They’d like any presence.”

Odo shuts his eyes. “Regardless. This is very soothing, by the way. You should try it.”

The thought of lying down amongst a mass of repeatedly reproducing animals doesn’t appeal to Quark at all.

“I’ll pass,” he says.

“It might improve your mood,” Odo murmurs, voice almost trailing off by the end of his sentence.

Quark’s eyes widen. “Odo.”

“Hm?”

“Are you falling asleep?”

The Changeling makes an incredulous sort of grunt, then murmurs, “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He rolls over to his side and falls quiet.

Quark immediately crouches down next to him. “Odo?”

But it’s too late.

The Changeling’s fast asleep.

Quark reaches out, intending to shake Odo’s shoulder, but there’s something else distracting him.

An increasing purr begins surrounding him from all sides, building up in intensity like a growing wave.

The vibrations echo off one another and resonate throughout the bar.

Belatedly, Quark realizes he’s now leaning much closer to the cooing tribbles and their exponentially potent cascade of sounds.

“Odo,” Quark says with urgency, shaking the Changeling’s shoulder as hard as he can. “You can’t fall asleep in the middle of my bar. Come on.”

The Changeling barely stirs.

The tribble noises are growing louder, and Quark’s starting to feel their hypnotizing effect take hold.

He tries another wake up call.  “There’s a crime happening _right now_ , Odo, this very minute!”

“Crime?” Odo asks sleepily, barely roused. “What crime?”

“Loitering!” Quark leans down to speak closer to the Changeling’s stupid unfinished ears. “You’re loitering and it has to stop.”

“Then loiter with me,” Odo murmurs. “You never take enough breaks during your shifts anyway.”

He tugs on Quark’s sleeve with a surprising strength, and Quark falls in an ocean of tribbles.

They're soft. Luxuriously soft. 

The hypnotic sounds are getting worse.

Odo keeps holding his sleeve. “Got you.”

Quark makes a frustrated noise. But it’s not nearly as loud as it normally would have been, and it’s subsumed into the chamber of tribble utterances surrounding them both.

“Let go,” he tells Odo.

The Changeling smiles in his sleep. “And have you cause more trouble? I don’t think so.”

“What trouble?” Quark replies lightly, but Odo doesn’t respond.

His eyelids are growing heavier. A warm buzz starts filling his mind.

Maybe just a little nap.

Quark closes his eyes.

The tribbles must be making him imagine things, because he swears he can feel Odo pull him even closer.

If he’s dreaming, he’s not sure he wants to wake up.

He’ll keep dreaming a little longer.

**Author's Note:**

>  **bonus:** [this very good illustration](https://realshadeslimmy.tumblr.com/post/167916508210/i-think-i-tried-to-post-this-like-4-times-so) by realshadeslimmy!


End file.
